


Saving Meredith

by Princesssappho



Category: Grey's Anatomy, Private Practice
Genre: Alternate Universe, Bisexual Addison Montgomery, Bisexual Meredith Grey, Enemies to Lovers, F/F, Friendship, Healthy Relationships, Hurt/Comfort, Lesbian, Post Season 3, Recovery, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-23
Updated: 2021-02-23
Packaged: 2021-03-15 15:46:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 20,004
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28940937
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Princesssappho/pseuds/Princesssappho
Summary: Meredith came out of Elliot Bay a broken woman. Addison is there to help put her back together again. Post Some Kind of Miracle, Meredith and Addison centric.-completing a piece from fanfiction.net that has been on hiatus since 2009, the first bit is not entirely my own work-
Relationships: Addison Montgomery & Amelia Shepherd, Arizona Robbins/Callie Torres, Meredith Grey & Alex Karev & Cristina Yang, Meredith Grey & Amelia Shepherd, Meredith Grey/Addison Montgomery
Comments: 33
Kudos: 59





	1. Starting now - around you

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Saving Meredith](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/747330) by andyoullenjoyit. 



> I found this work on fanfiction.net , it was incomplete / on hiatus so I am finishing it off on here. For this reason, the first 10 chapters are not my own work, but edited versions of the original but I have changed the, a little ( so a combo of mine and the original’s). Chapter 11 onwards however is my work, any similarities to any other fics from chapter 11 onwards are coincidental  
> -I DO NOT OWN THE RIGHTS TO GREYS ANATOMY, OR ANY OF THE CHARACTERS, THAT BELONGS TO SHONDALAND AND ABC-

_**She felt a sharp blow to the stomach, then being submerged in water so cold that it burnt, and then, nothing**_.

Everything after that was hazy, talking to dead people, being told my her mother to “run”, but at the same time at the back of her mind Meredith can vaguely remember the sense of relief in her person’s eyes. _“It must be the drugs, or am I dead?_ ” She thought to herself as she dozed off to the lullaby made by the machines around her. When she finally opened her eyes, she wondered to herself “where the hell am I and why am I in so much pain?” disorientated still, and even more so by the bright lights of her hospital room, she then realised where she was... Suddenly, it all came back to her a cascade of memories of the last few... Hours? Days?, Weeks? :The bathtub, Elliot Bay, drowning, Cristina pouncing on her the minute she woke up, promising Derek this would never happen again, her mommy dying, and then somehow remembering Dr. Montgomery’s voice talking to her while she was in a drug-induced sleep… wait, hang on. Dr. Montgomery? What? Why was Dr. Montgomery talking to her, Meredith Grey, adulterous whore and co-founder of the Dirty Mistress' Club?

Grey looks towards the door and sees Izzie walking by "Hey, Izz!" Meredith called out into the hall.

"Come here for a sec!" Izzie bounced over and sat down next to her.

"Hey Mer! I'm so glad you're awake again, how are you feeling? Do you need more morphine?"

Meredith's eyes widened. "No! No more morphine! Do you not remember the last time I had morphine, Izzie? That was embarrassing enough and never happening again!"

Izzie laughed. "Who doesn't remember that Mer? Fine then, it's not my ribs that are broken and sore. What did you want?"

Meredith lowered her voice. "Uh, Izz, Dr. Montgomery wasn't in here while I was out, was she? I seem to have some sort of fuzzy memory, but that can't be right because she hates me!"

Izzie looked at Meredith strangely. "Dr. Montgomery was in here quite a bit over the last two days Mer, she was really worried about you. You should have seen her; she was almost as upset as Derek! She doesn't hate you Mer, she's not going to kill you. You should talk to her. I think she's in surgery now, but she'll probably be by later."

Meredith looked shocked. "Okay, Izz. Well, thanks! I'll see you guys later, right?"

Izzie smiled. "Of course you will! I've got to go Mer, I'm scrubbing in with Sloan on a facial reconstruction soon."

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————-

 _ **The next afternoon**_ found Meredith sitting in her hospital bed eating with Izzie, Cristina, Alex and George, who had brought her real food and her laptop. Meredith's head was pounding and as much as she wanted quiet she didn't want to be alone.

"So Mer, what's this about you becoming all friendly with Satan?" George said jokingly.

Meredith shrugged. "She's not that bad. Besides, she's been here more than Derek and the rest of you and it's easy to talk to her."

"She's not that bad? Okay then Mer. Remember that when you're being all bitchy because Satan did something Satan-y and you go all dark and twisty on me again," Izzie interjected before she got up and left the room to go back to the pit.

“Ignore her” commented Christina, “she’s just extra bitchy because she’s on scut despite her heroic feat of drilling bur holes on a broken ferry”.

Meredith just raised her eyebrows. "Whatever.... wait she did WHAT?”

George cleared his throat nervously before speaking again, this time in a more somber tone. “Mer, what happened? In the water?"

Meredith visibly stiffened.

"C'mon Bambi, leave it alone. We all want to know but have some respect. She doesn't want to talk about it." Alex intervened with a scowl.

"But-" "Leave it."

Christina and George's pagers went off then and they left the room, promising to see her later. When they had left, Meredith looked at Alex for a moment before speaking. "Thanks, Alex. I really appreciate that."

Meredith had always been able to talk to Alex because inside they were both the same- dark and twisty. Alex just shrugged.

"No problem. I get that you don't want to talk about it right now." He paused, looked at his shoes and then continued. "But, ah… if you want to talk about it you know where I am. I've got to go though, I have surgery with Bailey."

Meredith smiled. "Thanks, Alex. Have fun in surgery for me!" Alex nodded and left, leaving her alone again. She could not wait until they finally discharged her and let her go back to work so she could do surgery again.

Several hours after Alex left, Derek had come in looking all gloomy and had sat by her, holding her hand and listening to her breathing. She had looked at him funny, and they had talked for a while about a surgery he had performed on a crash victim who had a traumatic subdural hematoma and had thankfully pulled through the surgery. Since he was in a coma and was only 2 hours post-op, Derek had gone on-call in case of complications. Meredith was too tired to talk a lot so she mostly nodded at what he had to say to show that she was listening.

Around 9 o'clock, Meredith started to fall asleep and assumed that Derek would go and sleep in an on-call room or even in his office. She woke up three hours later to find him watching her. "Der?" she mumbled sleepily. He ran his fingers through her hair soothingly.

"Go back to sleep Mer."

"How bad is it?"

"Hmm?"

"On a scale of one to ten, how bad is it?" She stared at him, now awake, daring him to lie.

"Eight," he sighed. She sat up and hugged him as tightly as she could before kissing him. "I'm sorry." "It's okay. It's all going to be okay."

He held her and rubbed her back until she calmed down and fell back asleep. When he put her back onto the bed he sat there, watching her and thinking.

He had told her it was all going to be okay, but how did he know?

' _She always avoids and runs,' said the voice in the back of his head. 'How do you know that she won't do it again?' 'No, she won't. I'll help her, I'll make sure we're fine.' 'Ah, but you, Derek…' continued the annoying voice. 'When the going gets tough, McDreamy gets going.' 'That's not true!' he protested vehemently. 'But it is, Derek. What about Addison? When things started getting difficult you spent all your time at the hospital. When Addison cheated on you with Mark you moved clear across the country. How do you know that you won't be absent again? More importantly, how does she know that?' 'Because I love Meredith more than Addison! I won't run from her.' 'Whatever you say,' said the voice snidely. 'Just remember that the first sign of insanity is talking to yourself. Arguing with yourself is several steps worse.'_

Derek rubbed his eyes tiredly. He really needed to sleep. Meredith had woken up once more when a nurse had come in to check her vitals. She had been surprised to see that Derek was still awake and staring at her.

"Derek. Go to sleep! You have surgery in 3 hours." He had just shrugged and kept watching her. Meredith started to get pissed off.

"Derek Christopher, if you don't get some sleep you'll end up killing someone! I'll be fine; there are people everywhere. Nothing is going to happen to me. Now go to sleep!"

He huffed angrily before getting up. "Fine." He bent over and kissed her. "Love you Mer."

"You too."

As soon as she was sure he was out of the room she closed her eyes and went back to sleep, only to be woken again by Cristina storming into her room.

"Meredith!" Meredith groaned. "What, Cristina? I'm trying to sleep."

"I think Evil Spawn has a thing for Satan!"

Meredith's eyes flew open and she sat up as fast as she could. "Oh, ouch. Seriously?"

"Yeah, seriously! Barbie was up around the NICU and she saw them staring at each other. Then I watched the c-section they did together and it was like watching you and McAss- too much eye sex!"

"What! No- but Addison is normally so professional!"

"Well Mer, Satan had Evil Spawn squirming, that's for sure!" Her pager sounded. "Damn, gotta go! It better be surgery.

Bye, Mer!" "But Cris- you can't just- UGH!"

Meredith collapsed against her pillow, pondering this latest bit of gossip. She had heard stuff from the nurses' station, but she hadn't believed it. After all, the nurses generally seemed to think gossiping was their job. How the hell was she supposed to sleep now? Meredith was jealous that her friend had surgery while she was stuck in bed but waved anyway. It took another two hours for someone to come into her room. This time it was Nurse Tyler, in to take her vitals. Meredith was bored out of her mind and was starting to realize why Katie Bryce had paged her 911 when she was bored. Tyler told her that Derek was in a surgery that had 3 hours left and then another one right after. Meredith decided that she might as well just try and sleep since the only thing on TV was more coverage about the ferryboat crash, something that she didn't really want to think about.

_**Meanwhile...** _

Scrubbing out of her emergency C-Section, Addison decided that she should go check in on Meredith to see how she was. It had been 2 days since the crash and Meredith had been unconscious most of the time since she was still recovering from her injuries and had had a lot of drugs in her system. The discovery of her feelings had hit her like a train and she had been looking for reasons to check on Meredith or just sit with her so that she could make sure she was still alive and breathing. Derek had found it odd at first but had been grateful that someone else was watching over Meredith when he had to be in surgery or sleeping. Addison walked over to Meredith's room and saw that she was asleep again.

Seeing that her vitals were stable, Addison pulled up a chair next to Meredith's bed and sat down. Admiring the intern’s soft and delicate features, looking ever so peaceful (at long last). She took a deep breath before speaking to calm herself, yes,Addison Forbes Montgomery, double board certified OB/GYN and neonatal surgeon was afraid to talk to Meredith Grey unless she was sleeping, and even then she was still a bundle of nerves.

"Hey, Meredith, it's Addison again. Do you have any idea how much you scared all of us? Derek was devastated, Yang went crazy, the Chief lost it, Miranda Bailey cried and so did I. Don't ever do that again, you hear me? I know you guys call me Satan but Meredith, I really would like to be friends with you. I think that if we had met under different circumstances we would be great friends. So you know, if you ever need someone to talk to, I'm right here."

When Addison took a breath, she looked up and met Meredith Grey's grey-blue eyes. "Dr. Montgomery?" Meredith murmured sleepily, attempting to move her arm towards Addison.

Addison was embarrassed that she had been caught and stood up to go. "Um, I'm sorry, I'll just leave."

Meredith reached out and grabbed her wrist. "No… stay."

Addison looked at her closely. "Are you sure?"

Meredith smiled, now fully awake. "Yeah, I'm sure. Sit down, we can talk, and besides, from what I heard, you are not satan at all"

Addison sat back down. "So how are you feeling?" Addison asked, trying not to fumble her words.

"Well I feel like I got hit by a truck, my ribs hurt quite a bit and so does my back where I hit the water." Meredith winced when she sat up.

"Are you sure you don't want any painkillers for that Meredith?"

Meredith laughed and then winced. "Dr. Montgomery, last time I was on morphine, apparently you talked to me and I remember nothing of it. This time I'd like to remember. Besides, I can deal with the pain, it's not that bad."

Addison smirked at the thought of her last “Meredith on Morphine” experience. "You know Meredith, you can call me Addison. Dr. Montgomery is a little formal if we're going to be friends."

Meredith looked surprised. "Oh… okay, then. Are you sure? I mean, I'm a dirty mistress; I broke up your marriage and stole your husband! You're like the perfect person, leggy and successful, rich and famous… why would you want to be friends with me? I heard that part of your talk. I'm just little Meredith Grey, intern and adulterous whore. My mom wished she hadn't ever had me, my dad left me when I was five and has a new perfect family, I drink too much tequila and sleep with inappropriate people! Like George, or ones who end up having to come to hospital for a neuro consult the morning after... I’m a mess, a disastrous disaster- I even gave up for a second in the water because when my mother was lucid for the first time in five years and is ashamed of me and says I'm a disappointment since I haven't decided a specialty and I'm ordinary! Why bother with me?" By the end of her tirade Meredith felt exhausted and drained and even less confident than usual.

There was no way Addison would want anything to do with her now. Addison was shocked when she listened to Meredith's speech. Meredith thought she was leggy! “ _Wait did Meredith say sleeping with people... not just men? Could she be... Stop it Addie, you cant jump to conclusions” Addison thought to herself, “ she can’t be, why am I even thinking about that? Hold that thought though- Who had known that she had so many problems”_

Addison spoke in a soothing voice and took Meredith's hand. "Meredith, I want to be friends with you because you are an extraordinary person and you're strong. Do you think any other person would be able to go through all of that and come out on top? Most people would have given up years ago if their mothers constantly told them that they were a disappointment. You fought, proved her wrong and succeeded. You are the most promising intern at Grace this year, anyone who can’t see that is an idiot. You Meredith are going to go on to do great things. Heck, I didn't declare my specialty until right before the deadline and look at me now! Let me make one thing very clear: my marriage was dead long before you came into the picture, and if anyone is an adulterous whore it's me. I slept with Mark before you even met Derek. He was absent, emotionally and literally Meredith, that's what ended our marriage. I just didn't want to believe it and I think... I think both of us needed closure. I'm sorry that what we did hurt you, you deserved so much more than to be caught in our crossfire Meredith… whenever you're ready to talk about what happened the other day I'll be here. Friends?"

Meredith thought about what Addison said and smiled. Did she really think that Meredith was extraordinary? The thought that she could was absurd but comforting to know that someone felt that way. "I… yeah. Friends."

"Excellent." Addison grinned and stood up, smoothing out her scrubs. "I have surgery soon so I have to go make sure the patient gets prepped.

”And Meredith?" Meredith looked back up at her. "Yes, Addison?"

"As soon as you're out of the hospital and walking, we're going shopping. My treat." Addison smiled at the young intern.

"I… okay." Meredith grinned back, surprised. "Bye, Addison."

"See you later, Meredith."


	2. Giving up - Sort Of

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I found this work on fanfiction.net , it was incomplete / on hiatus so I am finishing it off on here. For this reason, the first 10 chapters are not my own work, but edited versions of the original but I have changed the, a little ( so a combo of mine and the original’s). Chapter 11 onwards however is my work, any similarities to any other fics from chapter 11 onwards are coincidental  
> -I DO NOT OWN THE RIGHTS TO GREYS ANATOMY, OR ANY OF THE CHARACTERS, THAT BELONGS TO SHONDALAND AND ABC-

**_ Seven days later _ **

The bell rang around dinnertime, Meredith looked up from her email and walked overto see that Derek was standing at the front door. It had been two and a half weeks since the accident. She had been released a week ago and would be returning to work in about 4 days. _“_ _ And I still have to make plans with Addison” _ she pondered as she opened the door.

She raised an eyebrow. "Well, are you coming in or not? My mother always said that people who stand in doorways never succeeded. Said it to me quite a lot, actually. That's why I remember it. Which is a pretty crappy thing to remember because I'd rather remember the knight one, or the one with the water. Still, it's pretty amazing. I can't remember idioms very well!" Not realising how she was rambling.

Derek had visibly flinched when she mentioned water, but sighed and sat down next to her. "Sorry Mer, I've been busy. Surgery, you know…"

“That’s not an excuse Der, you could at least try and contact me, I know all about surgery and how it preoccupies time, Derek Shepherd, or have you forgotten that my mother was Ellis Grey? That's not an excuse. I almost died, Derek, and you can't even be bothered to come and see me during the day, to come by the house other than late at night? You should be ashamed of yourself!” She stated with fury 

You pulled me out of the damn water, you breathed for me, basically accuse me of doing it on purpose but then you hovered for hours until I was released, and now that's it? That's all I get? At least at the hospital I had Izzie, Cristina, George, Alex, Richard, Adele, Addison and even Thatcher and Susan spending time with me! But now they're working or unavailable and can't stop by as much so I'm all by myself in this huge house. And where are you?”

Meredith looked at him coldly.

Derek's face turned alarmingly red as he yelled. "How dare you compare me to that bitch! She didn't give a damn about you and I'm here now, aren't I? Was she ever there when you needed her? No!” He took a breath before continuing “besides, you are a grown woman, you shouldn’t need someone to breathe for you! You chose to give up, you CHOSE to not swim, to leave me, I wasn’t accusing you of giving up in the water, I was stating a fact”.

Meredith’s expression turned to stone when he mentioned Elliot Bay. "How  dare you!" She gasped.

"How dare I what, Meredith? While I was sitting there, being comforted by Mark and  Addison of all people, you were in some happy place because you were dead, Meredith! That's what happens when you don't swim hard enough! You can swim, Meredith, you're a grown woman! You were ten feet from the fucking dock! You could have made it, you could have swum! You won't talk to anyone about what happened and you're shutting me out! If this is how you're going to be, Meredith, then set me free and end my misery. I can't fucking breathe for you anymore, I can’t worry about if you are going to choose to live or die, I can't do it."

He carried on angrily and put her hands on her hips. “I’m sorry there are patents that need to be saved, and need me more than you, actually no I’m not sorry Meredith, you need to stop being so selfish, learn to fucking breathe for yourself”.

Meredith stepped back, away from the neurosurgeon 

"Derek Christopher Shepherd, what makes you automatically think I can swim? My mother was Ellis fucking Grey; all she cared about was become a world-renowned surgeon! Do you think she had time to ferry me back and forth to swim class? Maybe Thatcher took me to a class or two before he left but you can't fucking assume that I can swim! I fell 12 ft into that water Derek; I had the welts on my back to prove it! The patient knocked me in and hitting that water winded me! Then the water was freezing,not to mention the currents and I fought, dammit, I did! Do you think I wanted to drown? HOW DARE YOU SAY IT WAS A CHOICE. Yes, for just a second, just one, I thought about how my mother hated me, my father abandoned me, how you chose Addison over me, and for one second, I thought, what's the point? No one really loves me. So yes, I stopped swimming, for one damn second.”

Meredith had tears running down her face and took a deep breath before continuing. "Then I realized that I didn't want to die, but the water was so cold, I couldn't fight it, itwould’ve been hard for any swimmer, impossible for the likes of me!

“I...” Derek started, 

but before he could say anything Meredith cut him off “But then when I was in limbo or whatever and Denny said that my dying would change you and Cristina and George, and that all I would get of you and my friends was a whiff and that wasn't enough for me! So I fought. I came back for you! So don't you fucking accuse me of giving up when I came back! I haven't talked about this because it fucking sucked, okay? You accuse me of being selfish- I had a near death whatever and you taking time to talk to me would be nice! You're the one locked up in the hospital, cutting endlessly and looking for excuses to avoid coming to stay with me. Do I need to remind you that your marriage with Addison was falling apart because you were absent, Derek? You started staying at the hospital more and more! You don't want to breathe for me? Fine. I don't want you to have to breathe for me because I am a strong woman! I don't need you. You want to be freed, to not have to breathe for me anymore? Fine then Derek. We are over. We are so over it isn't even funny. I can't believe I didn't see this side of you before! You are a free man, Derek Shepherd. Get out."

Derek's face blanched as he realized what she had said and he tried to walk closer to her. "Meredith, I didn't mean- "

"Yes you did, Derek. Now get away from me and out of my house."

"But Mer- "

"Don't you 'Mer' me! Now get out of my fucking house!"

Seeing that she was livid and not backing down, he left the house defeated. Never had he thought that Meredith, his Meredith, would actually break up with him. He decided that he would get her back but would give her some space for now. When he got back to the trailer, he called Richard and requested some time off to go visit his family and figure out what to do to get her back because she belonged with him.

Five minutes after Derek left Meredith got up and locked the door before collapsing onto the couch and sobbing.  “How the did I not realise how much of an ass he is .”Pulling out her cell phone, she tried to figure out who she could call.

'Cristina is out of the question,' she thought wryly,  'she would find him and beat the shit out of him, which is something that can be done after when we have a plan. Plus she'd bring tequila and I can't drink so that would be depressing.'

“ Izzie has been acting weird and George is out on-call tonight an well, Alex has enough stuff to deal with.”

After staring at her phone for a good twenty minutes, uncertain on if she should call this person or not,  _ “what have I got to lose” _ she said to herself as shehit call, waiting nervously for the person to pick up.

"Hello?"

———————————————————————————————————————————

**_Me **anwhile** at Seattle Grace_ **

There was static at the end of the line, and then a voice so soft she barely heard it spoke. "Addison?"

Addison tried to place the soft voice. "Meredith, is that you?"

Silence. Then another whimper and a quiet murmur of assent.

"Are you okay?"

"I… no. Not really." It was said just as softly as before, but with a hint of defeat that Addison had never heard from Meredith before.

Addison paused. "Do you want me to come over?"

"Can you?"

"Of course. It should only take me about 15 minutes, okay? Do you want me to pick anything up?"

"No, I'm good."

Addison laughed. "Well you are clearly not. I'll see you soon, Meredith."

"Okay. Thanks, Addison." Meredith hung up the phone and then curled back up on the couch to wait.

When her cell had gone off, Addison had just gotten out after a 6-hour surgery and had answered without checking the caller ID. She had been extremely surprised when she found out it was Meredith- she had never expected Meredith to call her when she was distressed. No, she expected her to call Yang, or even O'Malley and Karev.

Feeling honoured that Meredith trusted her, she quickly changed into more casual clothing. Since she had been to Meredith's to visit once since she had been released from hospital so she had no problems getting there. After 20 minutes after the phone call, Addison had freshened up, got her things from the attending’s lounge and was on in her car.

When Meredith got up off the couch she peeked out the window to make sure Derek hadn't come back. After making sure it was Addison, she unlocked the door and opened it, gesturing for Addison to come in and greeting her quietly.

After Addison had put her purse on the table there was an awkward silence for a minute before she spoke.

"Do you want to come into the living room? Most of my stuff is in there right now."

Addison nodded and followed her into the living room. After Meredith had curled up into her own spot on the couch and Addison had settled across from her, Meredith started to speak.

"I… I'm sorry to bother you. But Cristina would bring tequila and I can't drink plus she's all worked up about the whole wedding stuff, Izzie and George are on-call and Alex is off but he's been a little… preoccupied." By the end of her quiet speech Meredith was looking at her hands.

"Hey, it's alright, I don't mind. I said you could call if you wanted to talk or hang out. Plus I'm pretty sure I still owe you a shopping trip."

Meredith looked up at her. "Are you sure?"

Addison smiled. "Yeah, I'm sure."

Meredith shifted again to curl up into herself more. "Derek came by a while ago. I haven't seen him much lately, he's been hiding at the hospital."

Addison smiled wryly. "He likes to do that."

"Yeah well, I'm not putting up with his shit. I know how it goes- they stay at the hospital more and more, get more surgeries, sleep in on-call rooms instead of coming home and then suddenly you only see them once a week! I'm not going through that again."

When Addison looked at her questioningly, Meredith added. "My mother. She did it the first time, said I had to learn to be independent. She always cared more about her career than me."

Addison looked shocked. "I had no idea."

Meredith shrugged. "I'm used to it. Anyway, then I called him on not checking on me as much since I'd been released and he said I was selfish because there were 'patients that needed to be saved.' I get that, but I almost died and I know that the hospital hasn't been that busy lately and there are other neuro attendings. Then he said that I went into the water on purpose, and that I chose not to fight. Where the hell did he get that idea? I'd been looking after that little girl all day and there were patients, like the one that freaked out and knocked me in, that needed to be saved. That was a 12ft shove into that water and believe me, it hurt like hell. I can't swim, so it honestly doesn't matter if the dock was only 10ft away from me- I was in shock, the water was cold and I can't swim! So apparently I was in a 'happy place' because I was technically  dead and he was 'stuck' with you and Mark."

Addison was pissed. "He actually told you that he thought you went in the water on purpose? First off, he said that to me and I told him that I didn't think you had gone in on purpose and not to give up hope until there wasn't any hope left. Secondly, Mark was there most of the time, not me, because I was helping them save you, telling your friends that they might have to prepare themselves because Miranda couldn't do it and saving my own patients. Also, Richard, Miranda and I have been literally shoving him out the door and denying him surgeries that the fellows could perform because he needs to spend time with you. Lastly…" Addison paused here. "How the hell is a brain surgeon so brainless!"

"You did? Thank you… I didn't know that all of you had to step in like that for me. I really appreciate it, but his brainlessness and his tendency to be an ass have gotten to be much too much. He told me he didn't want to breathe for me anymore and if I was going to avoid talking about the accident and shut him out to put him out of his misery and set him free." Meredith started crying again.

Addison gasped.

Meredith sniffed and continued, "So I did. I told him that I was strong enough to breathe on my own, that I didn't want him to have to breathe for me… and then I set him free. I used to be independent and now I'm reduced to this over a guy, and McBastard at that! How am I supposed to do this Addison? I still love him." The last bit was said quietly while she wiped at her tears with the Kleenex that Addison had passed her.

“Meredith, I hate to say this, but I was with Derek for 15 years and he will hurt you again once he does it the first time, even if he doesn't mean too. The first time he acted like a true ass I just brushed it off, thinking it was a phase. Then it turned into him being obsessive, hovering, wanting to know where you are all the time and from there it went to him being absent and never paying attention to me. When I cheated on him with Mark it should have been the final straw but I had been so desperate to get his attention that I chased him here, and ruined your relationship. I'm sorry for that, I am, because you two would have had a chance before I ruined it for you."

"But as much as I still love him, I know I can't do it again, Addison. Look, in the space of 8 or 9 months we've gone through just about everything your marriage went through. If I'm honest with myself, I'm in love with what we were before you came, and that was a façade. He asked me to take the rest on faith- and I did- and then you showed up and suddenly I find out he has a secret wife."

Addison winced. "I probably could have been nicer with that introduction."

Meredith laughed. "Honestly, the bluntness of it helped drive it home faster. Really though, how could that introduction have been pleasant? Think about it."

Addison did, and came to the same conclusion as Meredith. "You're right."

Meredith smiled. "I know. Anyways, he's right because I cannot trust him after everything he's done. Prom just kind of… happened. I didn't want it to, I was happy with Finn and I didn't want to hurt you. He made me feel like a real dirty mistress after that and he shouldn't have hidden the fact that he was married, separated… whatever, in the first place. At least if he had been honest I would have been able to make a decision. I don't know that much about love but I do know that that's not how you treat the supposed to treat the  love of your life . Before, I believed that I deserved to be treated that way, but I know now that just like anyone else, I deserve better”.

Addison shook her head. "No, it's not how you treat the people you love, I just got used to it and kept thinking he would change. I didn't let him walk all over me but I did let him get away with quite a bit."

"Well I'm done with him trying to walk all over me. My mother did it and but I won't go down that road again," Meredith said determinedly. "He'll probably bother me at work, won't he?”

“That's what he did last time, so I don't see how this time should be any different." Addison replied honestly.

"I thought so. Maybe I can talk to Dr. Bailey and the chief about not letting him request me."

"Tell you what. I think Karev's learned his lesson, so if you want I can request to have you on my service until I say so."

Meredith brightened. "Really? Do you think it would help? You’d do that for me?”

Addison shrugged. "I don't see why not. You haven't been on my floor very much and it will help you avoid having confrontations with him until he gets control of himself. I'm not on until 3:30 tomorrow so if you want you can come in with me and we can talk to Richard before my shift starts, and thats what friends do- we do things for each other”

"Okay. Thanks Addison, I really appreciate it."

Addison smiled. "Not a problem, I’ve got your back. Do you want to watch a movie?"

"Sure. Is 'The Pursuit of Happyness' okay? I haven't seen it yet."

"Sounds good. Do you want to get a pizza?"

Meredith grinned. "Sure! What do you like on yours?"

"Pepperoni, cheese, and bacon."

"Sounds good. Just warning you, I eat a lot of pizza."

Addison laughed. "Just get an extra large then and you can eat the leftovers later."

Meredith got up and ordered the pizza while Addison put the movie on.

When George and Izzie got home 5 hours later, they were startled to see Meredith and Addison passed out on the couch with several pop cans and a box of pizza on the table.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you have read the original fic you may notice that I’ve changed some aspects of the storyline. I know there are not many MerAdd fans but this if for you guys anyway!!  
> I’d be happy to hear any comments/ suggestions!


	3. The way I am - So long

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I found this work on fanfiction.net , it was incomplete / on hiatus so I am finishing it off on here. For this reason, the first 10 chapters are not my own work, but edited versions of the original but I have changed them little ( so a combo of mine and the original’s). This chapter is the least edited so yeah.... Hope you enjoy  
> -I DO NOT OWN THE RIGHTS TO GREYS ANATOMY, OR ANY OF THE CHARACTERS, THAT BELONGS TO SHONDALAND AND ABC-

The next morning, Addison woke up to the slamming of a door (but hang on, why wasn't she in her hotel room?) and the sound of Cristina Yang's voice.

Right. She had fallen asleep on Meredith's couch, arm protectively embracing the younger woman,Meredith curled up against her.

"Meredith Grey, get your ass off that damn couch you've been living on this instant, I need to- " Cristina broke off abruptly when she saw Meredith and Addison on the couch. "Hold on- Mer, why is Satan on your couch? Are you two even awake?"

Addison groaned and opened her eyes slowly, willing the room to come into focus. "I am now Yang."

Meredith put a pillow over her eyes and nearly growled. "Fuck off Cristina, it's too damn early."

Cristina yanked the pillow away from her as Addison slowly sat up. "Well too damn bad, it's 8am and we need to talk. Now."

Meredith rubbed her eyes and sat up. "Well then, shoot."

Cristina eyed Addison. Meredith sighed and glared at her. Addison cleared her throat to break the awkward silence. "Meredith, where's your bathroom? Is it alright if I take a quick shower?"

Meredith pointed while still glaring at Cristina. "Sure, go ahead. Upstairs, third door on the right."

As soon as Addison had left the room Cristina fixed Meredith with a pointed glare. "So are you going to tell me why Satan was on your couch with you this morning?"

"First off, her name is Addison, not Satan. Secondly, maybe I just wanted to talk to someone who wouldn't try to ply me with tequila I can't have!"

"Well, well, well, someone's bitchy this morning. Did Evil Spawn come by last night? Or were Barbie and Bambi sickeningly sweet when they came home?"

"I've barely seen Alex since I was released because he's always with Ava and I haven't seen Izzie or George since before they went to work yesterday. This has nothing to do with them."

"Oh, is it McDreamy again? That's what it always is, isn't it Meredith?"

Meredith answered quickly, not wanting to talk about Derek with Cristina. "No, it's not about Derek! It's about the fact that my mom is dead and in an urn in my closest, I'm stuck here and while I'm stuck here all of you guys are at the hospital in surgery!"

'There,' she thought, satisfied, 'I didn't lie but I didn't exactly tell the truth either.'

Upstairs, they heard the water for the shower turn on. Cristina plopped down on the couch across from Meredith. "So Burke wants me to pick a colour scheme and a cake and get married in a damn church! I said you, me, City Hall. He agreed. Now I have Mama Burke and my own bitch of a mother breathing down my back and I had to go try on wedding dresses, Meredith. I had to pretend I liked it." Cristina shuddered.

Meredith just looked at her. "Look, at least you have a mother that's alive and cares enough to help you plan your wedding. Choose champagne or olive green or some other colour that Izzie and Callie agree on. Just don't make me wear pink."

The room fell silent again and after several minutes they heard the water shut off.

"Look, Mer, why didn't you call me? Why did you call Satan and why the hell was she on your couch?"

When Meredith finally spoke her tone was icy. "I didn't call you, Cristina, because I didn't want to listen to you bitch about your wedding. Or you going on about why everything is about Derek and have you drink tequila in front of me when you know damn well I can't have it because of my pain meds. That won't help me at all, it will just make me even more miserable then I already am! Once again, her name is Addison, not Satan, and she was on my couch because we were eating and watching a movie and we passed out. It's my house and I can do as I damn well please."

"Look Meredith, if it weren't for her you wouldn't even be in this situation because he would have stayed in New York and you wouldn't have got involved with him. It's her fault in the first place."

Addison had just come down the stairs and flushed guiltily at Yang's words. They did have a modicum of truth in them, after all. If she hadn't been such a whore... she listened again when Meredith started talking.

"Cristina. It's not just her fault. If Derek hadn't been absent then Addison wouldn't have been spending more time with Mark Sloan, and if  Mark Sloan could keep it in his pants or had any morals then he wouldn't have screwed his best friend's wife. I'm pretty sure that they all share the blame equally for that." Meredith was seething and struggling to keep her voice down, mindful of Izzie and George who were sleeping.

Cristina had no such qualms. "It always comes back to McDreamy for you, doesn't it Meredith? It's all about him and you and you know what, he's right, you are pretty damn selfish when you want to be."

Meredith interrupted her. "Oh that's rich, Miss 'I'm-Going-to-Complain-About-My-Overbearing-Mother-Who-Actually-Cares-About-My-Wedding' to someone whose mother just died and wouldn't have given a damn if she were alive! It's the principle behind it, Cristina!"

Cristina just stared at her.

Meredith and Cristina's fighting had woken Izzie and George and the two of them were standing with Addison on the stairs, leaning against the wall, listening and occasionally peeking around the corner.

"Good morning, Dr. Montgomery." Izzie whispered.

"Dr. Stevens." Addison's eyes were glued to Meredith, who stood with her hands balled into fists, face flushed and chest heaving. 'Damn, that's hot!'

"Morning Dr. Montgomery." George rubbed his eyes. "What are they fighting about now?"

"Well Dr. O'Malley, Yang came over this morning, woke us up and tore into Meredith about me being here. They were talking about Yang's wedding for a while, and then Yang insensitively mentioned her mother and set Meredith off. Now they're arguing about myself, Derek and which one of them is more selfish, which started because Yang called me Satan and Meredith defended me." Addison stated this matter-of-factly in a voice barely louder than a whisper.

Izzie stared at Addison. "Uh… why?"

Addison looked at Izzie and raised an eyebrow. "We're friends. Now shh, they're starting again."

"At least I didn't let myself drown! You said yourself that you gave up for a second. Why didn't you fight? The fact that you came back doesn't count!"

Izzie gasped quietly. "Ouch, low blow!"

"You know what- "

Meredith was interrupted when George, who had been the farthest up, lost his footing while leaning in and slipped, crashing into Izzie and Addison and leaving them all in a heap on the floor.

Meredith turned and glared at them. "What the hell is going on?!"

Addison, George and Izzie all smiled sheepishly.

"Well, I was on my way back down from showering,"

"And your fighting woke George and I up,"

"But we didn't want to interrupt you," Addison finished.

George looked worriedly from Meredith to Cristina and back again. "Please don't kill us!"

Cristina glared at them and stormed out of the house, while Meredith threw up her hands as if to say 'well what can you do?' and went upstairs to her room.

George got up from where he was sprawled on top of the women and helped them up before announcing that he was going back up to bed. Izzie said goodbye to Addison and followed him up.

Addison went into the kitchen and made some coffee for herself and Meredith. Once it was done, she grabbed some cream packets from the fridge and some sugar from the cupboard before pouring the coffee into two cups and heading upstairs. Once she got to Meredith's room, she knocked tentatively, unsure of her mood.

"Come in, Addison."

Meredith was sitting curled up on the floor, looking out the window. "It's not raining today."

"No, it's not." Addison sat down next to her and handed her the cup of coffee.

"Thanks." Meredith added cream and sugar before taking a drink. "Mmmm, caffeine."

Addison sat quietly and watched her. She had noticed how petite the younger blonde was at the hospital but it suddenly struck her how childlike she was. It wasn't that she was naïve or looked exceptionally young, but the way she curled into herself like a child seeking protection. Protection, Addison mused, that from what she had heard Meredith had not experienced since she was very young.

"On sunny days after the storms my dad used to take me to see the ferryboats and then to the Space Needle," Meredith said abruptly. "The last time he took me I was 5. It was the day he left my mother and I, and I remember the next day there was a horrible storm. My mom went off to the hospital that night after I was in bed and for the first time there wasn't anyone there to tell me stories or sit with me when I was scared of the storms. I got over that fast, believe me."

Addison put an arm around Meredith, who had paused to take a sip of her coffee.

"About a month later there was another storm, and the next day 'Uncle' Richard came by and him and my mom took me to the park because Richard remembered how much I hated storms."

Addison looked at her in surprise. "You knew Richard?"

Meredith smiled wryly. "I've known Richard since I was a baby. After everything that happened, he was my father figure, I guess. He remembered to send me birthday presents, Christmas presents, graduation presents. He was at my graduation from Dartmouth and sent me a card of congratulations when I got accepted into med school. You can imagine how surprised I was when he was at my grad- I hadn't seen or spoken to him in years."

Addison smiled. "Richard was always like that, always getting involved. He was like that back in New York all the time. He went there after his fellowship and only came back to Seattle when he was offered Chief of Surgery here."

"Anyways, my mother and Richard had been having an affair. I know that now, but I remember my mom putting me on the carousel and walking over to the edge of the playground to talk to him. I remember seeing them shouting and my mother crying, but I didn't know what was wrong. All I remember is being stuck on that carousel, spinning around and around and around, watching another father figure walk out of my life. I hate carousels now. Richard, at least, kept in touch. I hadn't heard from Thatcher until Molly came into the hospital as your patient."

"Is that why you were so surprised to see him in your hospital room?" Addison asked softly, watching Meredith intently.

"Partly. It was odd seeing him there, but I'm glad he remembered that my favourite flower is lavender. He brought pictures of my half sisters, Lexi and Molly, as well as a few of Laura and most of his pictures from when I was young. I'm sure Susan made him do that but it was kind of nice, even if it was awkward because well, he left me and now he has this big happy replacement family… he didn't even try to keep in touch or call me… he didn't even fight for custody when they divorced, he just wanted away from Ellis so he could be with Susan." Meredith stopped and took a deep breath.

Addison grinned, there was the Meredith she knew and loved. She had been getting concerned with the lack of rambling for a while.

"Anyways, the past is the past. I can't keep a hold of my temper right now… first Derek, then Cristina. It's ridiculous."

Addison rubbed her back soothingly. "Why don't you take a shower, and then we can run over to the hotel quickly so I can change and head out for breakfast. Sound good?"

Meredith nodded her assent and got off the floor quickly, holding out a hand to help Addison up. "I'll meet you in the living room in a little bit, alright?"

Addison brushed off her pants. "See you in a few“

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

After Addison had gone back to the Archfield to change, the unlikely duo had headed out into downtown Seattle to a quaint diner that Meredith remembered going to in her youth. She claimed they had the best pancakes, and proceeded to order them and devour them as if she had not eaten in days. Addison, who had opted for eggs and bacon, had tasted a bit of Meredith's pancakes and promptly agreed. They were now walking around the city's shopping district, with Addison looking positively gleeful and Meredith looking distinctly nauseous.

"Addison, I'm not that much of a shopper. Really."

"I am though, and your wardrobe needs an update. All the new summer lines have just come out and even though we live in rainy Seattle you could still pick up a few new pieces."

Meredith had quickly learned that with Addison, resistance was futile and soon found herself the new owner of an amount of clothes large enough to be a new wardrobe, at least 10 pairs of shoes and 4 new bags. They had had fight number two in the first store, when Addison had pulled out her credit card to pay and Meredith had objected, saying she could pay for it herself.

"I'm not broke you know, I already had a large trust fund and I've recently inherited at least six million dollars since my mom never spent any and just let it pile up."

Addison just looked at her in the way that made Meredith agree with the devil nickname and she surrendered once again. So it was three hours later that an exhausted duo returned to Meredith's house laden with shopping bags, which were promptly put away in Meredith's closet. They went downstairs and reheated pizza and some soup that had been in the fridge for their lunch.

While they had been eating, Addison had been looking at Meredith with a pensive expression on her face. ' _Her hair is really nice, but if she had it trimmed, with the layers just a little bit shorter yet long enough to put in a ponytail…’_

Meredith clearing her throat interrupted her musings. "Is there something on my face?"

"Nope," Addison replied cheerfully, "Just thinking about what to do with your hair!"

Meredith's hand flew up to grasp her dirty blonde locks. "Addison… what do you mean, 'do with my hair'?"

Addison grinned. "See, there's this really nice place in town where I get my hair done at, and while we were shopping I may have made a reservation there for you in about… oh, 20 minutes."

"Addison! There is nothing wrong with my hair!"

"No, there isn't anything wrong with it, not necessarily. When was the last time you had it cut?"

Meredith squirmed uncomfortably under Addison's piercing stare. "Um, 5 months ago? I haven't really had time."

Addison grinned triumphantly. "See! This will help with your self-confidence, Meredith. Not only will you feel like a million dollars but you'll look that good! Now let's go, you don't want to be late."

With that, Meredith was ushered out the door and into the passenger seat of Addison's car.

Addison was sitting next to her reading a new issue of Vogue, having just gotten her hair retouched. When they had entered the salon Addison had promptly told the stylist exactly what to do with Meredith's hair, making sure that Meredith had no clue what was being done. Mer just went with it, still in shock from that morning.

When the women left the salon at 1:30, they had just enough time to go to Meredith's house again for Addison pick out an outfit for her to wear to the hospital. Addison eventually settled on black leggings, a flowing royal blue cap-sleeved tunic top and a pair of yellow ballet flats. Meredith's look was completed with mascara, deep purple eyeliner, and shimmery pale gold eye shadow to compliment her grey-green eyes, while her lips were tinted with a soft pink lip-gloss. Overall, Meredith was astonished at how pretty she looked. Her hair fell in soft curls and had been given lots of dimension with the new layers. She didn't normally put very much makeup on but was pleasantly surprised that it had only taken less than five minutes. Addison looked stunning as usual in her black skirt, light blue shirt and black Prada heels. Meredith wasn't even positive that Addison had anything other than mascara and some brown eyeliner on.

She had just finished transferring her essentials- house keys, Blackberry, wallet, pager (just in case), lip-gloss and a hairbrush- into her new dark brown purse when Addison walked into the kitchen.

"Ready to go?"

Meredith nodded, picking up her cream coloured coat and folding it over her arm just in case.

Addison looked her up and down to check that she looked okay (in fact, Addison thought she looked more than okay- she thought she looked fabulous), grabbed her coat and her car keys and walked towards the door.

"Alright then, I'll drive since you won't be cleared until your appointment tomorrow- "

Meredith scowled at the reminder, but Addison pretended not to notice and continued.

"If it's alright with you I'd like to grab a coffee from Starbucks and then we can go talk to Richard, it's only 2pm so there's still an hour until my shift starts."

It was only when they pulled into Addison's parking space near the front of the hospital that Meredith started to get nervous. What if they ran into Derek? Or Cristina? What if the Chief and Bailey said absolutely not and stuck her with him? Honestly, at this point even staying on permanent scut would be preferable to dealing with him for the next little bit.

Addison noticed Meredith's squirming and squeezed her hand reassuringly. "You'll be fine."

Meredith smiled at her gratefully before getting out of the car and following Addison into the building. She paused inside the doors and took a deep breath, savouring the smell of the hospital.

Addison had paused with Meredith and then looking at her and receiving a nod, began walking purposefully towards the elevators. Pressing the button for the surgical floor, Addison was glad that the elevator was empty except for the two of them; she didn't think the nervous intern could deal with a crowded elevator right then. As the doors opened, she prayed they could get to the chief's office unscathed.

Meredith eyed the crowded halls with apprehension, following Addison as she walked quickly towards the chief's office and hearing people call to her in greeting. She smiled at them and hurried to keep up, only pausing to give Alex the finger and a scrub nurse, who she thought was named Rose, a dirty look after she had made a comment about her finally learning how to dress when Alex had wolf-whistled jokingly. Seeing the door of the chief's office approaching, she tightened her grip on her coat and tried to remain confident.

The pair walked into the reception room of chief's office and sat down to wait after Patricia told them that he was in a conference call and would be done in a minute. When Richard's voice called for them to enter, Meredith gulped and followed Addison in.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you have read the original fic you may notice that I’ve changed some aspects of the storyline. I was going to change this one more as I personally didn’t think the way Mer and Christina argued was in line with Christina’s personality but the way I wrote it made no sense, so I had to keep the original.  
> I’d be happy to hear any comments/ suggestions!  
> ~ Princesssappho


	4. Maybe-Empty Bottle-Breakable

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> -I DO NOT OWN THE RIGHTS TO GREYS ANATOMY, OR ANY OF THE CHARACTERS, THAT BELONGS TO SHONDALAND AND ABC-  
> Hope you enjoy,  
> Also thin italics are thoughts!!

Richard Webber was a perfectly reasonable man. When Patricia had sent him a memo during his conference call saying that he had an attending and an intern wanting to speak with him, he was mildly irritated that she had interrupted him and hadn't given him names. When the door opened and Addison walked in, he stood up and came around his desk to greet her, expecting Karev to be behind her since he was in the middle of a shift, though Addison's didn't start for another 40 minutes. He was startled, to say the least, when it was not Karev but Meredith Grey that followed the neonatal attending in.

He shot Addison a look as if to say, 'Really Addison, terrorizing the poor girl already?'

Addison responded with a small smile and a shake of her head.

Richard looked at her intently for a minute before turning to Meredith, who was fidgeting nervously. He had no doubt whatsoever that if Meredith was speaking right now she would be rambling, a rather endearing trait in Meredith that had been horrible on her father. There was something different about her… she was certainly a little more thin, a side effect of the accident no doubt, but there was something else. A second later it dawned on him. Her hair had more volume in it than usual, and makeup- something he hadn’t seen since the photos Ellis sent him when Meredith was in an Angry-Pink-Hair-Over-The-Top-Dark-Makeup phase.

"Addison, nice to see you again," he shook Addison's hand genially and turned to Meredith, pulling her into a brief but warm hug. "Meredith, look at you! I'm glad to see you've been taking care of yourself while you've been on leave."

Meredith chuckled. 

"Well I had to do something, didn't I? I had no clue what to do with myself Uncle Richard; you've had me off nearly three weeks now! This," she waved her hand at her clothes and hair, "is actually Addison's doing, she dragged me out shopping and somehow conned me into getting my hair done."

Richard looked at Addison and nearly snorted at the look of innocence on her face. "In any case, Adele will be happy to see you looking so well. Now what brings you two ladies here? Since you took her shopping Addison, I'm guessing you two have solved your problems and become friends?"

Addison nodded. "Oh yes Richard, we're past that." She looked at Meredith questioningly and Meredith indicated that she wanted to continue.

Meredith took a breath and addressed Richard formally. "Actually Dr. Webber, we're here about my schedule once you let me return to the hospital."

Richard raised his eyebrows. "We were going to give you reduced hours when you came back Dr. Grey, we were just going to let you know when you come back next week. Is that what this is about?"

Meredith shook her head. "No Chief, this doesn't have anything to do with hours, in fact if I could keep regular shift lengths that would be fantastic."

Addison inwardly sighed, that girl would work herself into the ground. "Chief, we would like to discuss Dr. Grey's assignments, actually."

“Really? What about them?"

"As you know, Dr. Karev has been permanently on my service for the last several months and as I am sure he has learned his lesson, I would like to request that Dr. Grey be on my service for the next several weeks."

“How do you feel about this Dr. Grey?"

Meredith shrugged. "I haven't really done neonatal very much sir, but I love babies and am open to the experience. Plus last time I worked with Addison, on the quintuplets, I enjoyed it and learned a lot."

Richard stared at them for several minutes, scrutinizing their facial expressions and their reasoning. Meredith, he thought, looked slightly peaky and anxious. Folding his hands atop his desk, he cleared his throat.

"I thought you were leaning towards neurosurgery, Dr. Grey. Does this have anything to do with the fact that my head of Neurosurgery has requested a week off to go and 'find himself'? He seemed quite distressed."

Meredith clasped and unclasped her hands. "Well, we did have a rather… vicious fight and I ended things with him. I didn't know that he was requesting time off sir. But I know if I were to work with him, it may lead to him overstepping professional boundaries, and into personal ones. Which, knowing Derek will continue to happen until, or unless he realises we are done, and in order to get Derek to realise, we need space.

"Well as long as there aren't any interruptions that disturb my patients, Dr. Grey, then that's fine and I'm sure it can be arranged so that you skip out on your neuro rotation for a week or so after he comes back." Richard sighed. Things had been so much easier before this year's interns had come along. "We will need to discuss this with Dr. Bailey, as a group," he looked pointedly at the two of them. "However, since she is in surgery for the next 2 hours barring complications, I will send her a page asking her to meet us in my office as soon as she is finished. While we are waiting for her, Meredith, I can check on your progress. You had an appointment to be cleared to return to work and to drive tomorrow, right?"

Meredith nodded, trying not to look too ecstatic. "Yes sir. I've been off the pain meds for two or three days now. There hasn't been too much pain unless I sleep funny or overdo it and the swelling has gone down considerably… the contusions and abrasions on my back have healed as well."

"Good, good." He stood up and the three of them walked out of his office. "Change into a gown and we'll head down to X-ray to check on your ribs. Addison, you can meet us in exam room three after you round on your patients."

"Yes… my patients. Shall I let Karev know the good news?"

Richard shook his head. "Not until we figure out when Meredith is coming back." He raised his hand to stop her from vocalising her protests. "Young lady, I promised your mother I would take care of you and if your ribs are not healed enough then you will not return to work until they are."

Meredith put her arms on her waist and pouted. "But Uncle Richard… I'm going crazy! My mother would have gone back to work last week. Couldn't I at least chart and observe? Please?"

"Meredith Ellen Grey, you are not your mother and I am your boss. So until I have given you the all clear the answer is a firm no. You have enough hours already that you aren't behind and you're a brilliant intern and don't need to worry about the exam coming up next month." Richard glared at her sternly, daring her to argue with him.

Meredith just sighed. "Fine. Lead the way then. See you later, Addison."

Addison waved, looking distinctly amused before turning and walking towards the attending locker room to put away her bag and grab her lab coat.

In OR 3, a pager sounded and one of the scrub nurses, Rose, checked to see whose it was. "It's yours, Dr. Bailey."

Miranda Bailey didn't look up from the body cavity but held out her hand impatiently. "Clamp please." After making sure that the patient was stable, she acknowledged the nurse. "Who is it?"

Rose read the page. "It's from Dr. Webber."

"Well what does he want? I'm elbow deep in this man's large intestine, I can't go anywhere." She was slightly impatient, she had already been in surgery for 3 hours and by the looks of it had at least another 2 to go. Why couldn't the damn nurse get to the point?

Rose continued, oblivious to the death glare being sent to her by the Nazi. "It's not 911, just wants to see you in his office as soon as you're out of surgery. Says it's important you stop by before you leave."

"Alright then." Dr. Bailey cleared her throat before surveying the intestine. "Yang, hold the clamp. Can I have a 10-blade, please?"

She turned her focus back to the surgery, making a mental note to find out what the chief wanted after...The sound of gushing blood greeted her ears. "Yang, what did you do? Another clamp, now! Yang, I need you to stitch right there or this man is going to bleed out," and then impatiently, "Yes, right there, I have over here… keep going Yang, you know how to do this." They almost had the bleeding controlled when the monitors flat lined.

"Charge to 150!"

"Clear!"

The patient's body convulsed. No response.

"Charge to 200!"

"Clear!"

They waited again.

"Charge to 300! For God's sakes man, don't do this!"

"Clear!"

Finally they could hear the beeping of the monitor start to regulate and Bailey motioned for the nurses to put the paddles away. "All right people, let's finish this up without him coding again."

An hour or so later found Meredith in her regular clothes again, waiting in the exam room for either Addison to come in or for Dr. Weber to come with the results from her X-rays and blood tests. When the door opened, she smiled at Addison widely. "Hey! How are your patients doing?"

"Good, they're doing well. Molly brought Laura in for a check up today, she's strong and developing well. I've scheduled a C-section next week for a woman with triplets and an in-utero surgery for a woman whose son has spina bifida… the child is almost to term, I can't understand why her ob-gyn didn't catch it before, it's glaringly obvious." Addison wrinkled her nose in disdain.

Meredith chuckled. "Well Addison, we aren't all as good as you!"

"Thanks." She grinned and hopped up onto the bed next to Meredith, swinging her legs childishly.

"So do you have the results back yet?"

"Nope." Meredith sighed. "He should be back any minute now."

The two sat in silence for the next 10 minutes or so until Richard walked in with the X-rays and lab results in his hand. Putting the X-rays on the screen, he handed Meredith her labs. 

“As you can see, you're blood results came back clean so I don't see why you can't drive. If the pain keeps up, don't take anything stronger than Aleve or Extra Strength Tylenol and avoid the alcohol for at least another week." Meredith grinned. Freedom at last!

“Now, about your ribs. The fractures all appear to be healing nicely and there is minimal bruising as you can see. You said the only tenderness you were experiencing was between 5 and 6 and it appears as if that should be cleared within the next few days. Today is… Thursday? The way things are I can allow you to return to work on Monday. At that point your discomfort should be minimal."

"Seriously?"

"Yes Meredith, I am serious."

Meredith looked as if she was the cat that had eaten the canary, making Addison grin. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

Richard's pager went off. "That's Patricia, Dr. Bailey is waiting for us. After you, ladies."

The elevator ride up to his office was mercifully quiet as it was only the three of them and a visitor to the hospital who knew nothing about the gossip.

When the three walked into his office, Dr. Bailey was already sitting in one of the chairs across from his desk. He walked around to his side, leaving Meredith and Addison to take up chairs next to her.

"Miranda, thank you for coming. How did your surgery go?"

Before answering, Dr. Bailey glanced suspiciously at the intern and attending. "Mr. Jenkins had the blockage and the tumour removed successfully and while he coded once on the table there were no other complications. Dr. Yang is currently with him in post op."

"Ah, excellent. Now, there is a matter of scheduling that we need to discuss. As you know, Dr. Grey will be returning to work on Monday. Dr. Montgomery has requested to have her on her service for the next two weeks or so."

'Well,' thought Miranda, 'that explains why the two of them are here.' "Okay, so I should inform Karev that he has been freed? And Grey- what did you do? You aren't even back at work yet!"

Meredith looked at her resident innocently. "I haven't angered Dr. Montgomery at all, Dr. Bailey. I'd just like to try my hand at something other than neuro for a while."

"She's right Miranda, we're all good," Addison chimed in with a smile.

Dr. Webber shook his head at the three strong willed women across from him. "Also, Dr. Shepherd will be replaced with Dr. Brown for the next week so any interns that are on neuro can be directed to him."

Dr. Bailey just looked at Meredith. "Honestly Grey? Talk. Now."

"Derek and I are no longer seeing each other and as I would like our relationship at work to remain professional we need to take time apart because last time it didn't work out so well… and exams are coming up and he'll do the sniffing thing and it's so distracting and he'll make me lose my game… I just can't deal with him right now, Dr. Bailey." Meredith rambled in her usual style, stopping to take a breath.

Miranda looked at her and her expression softened marginally for the young woman who had just been through hell and back. "Okay then Grey. Addison, are you all right with sharing her with Drs. Burke and Sloan every once in a while? She still needs hours in their departments."

Addison nodded her assent. "Fine with me Miranda."

"Thank you Dr. Bailey."

Miranda gave Meredith a rare smile. "Not a problem."

As Meredith and Addison stood up to leave, Miranda spoke again. "Oh, and Meredith?"

She looked over her shoulder. "Yes Dr. Bailey?"

"Don't do anything stupid before Monday. Keep taking care of yourself, you look good."

Meredith smiled at her resident. "Thanks. See you Monday for rounds!" With that, she turned and nearly skipped down the hall, alongside Addison.

Miranda sighed and turned to the chief. "How long until they're together?"

Richard blanched. "What? Meredith and Addison? What makes you think that?"

She just shook her head. "I just know, sir. It's the way Addison looks at her. It's the same way Dr. Shepherd did, but more lovingly and with more respect. Look at Meredith, Addison's already worked on her confidence."

Richard had to agree with that. "I don't know, Miranda. Maybe they'll end up together, maybe they won't. It depends on Derek's reaction when he comes back."

Miranda scowled. "That man will stay away from that poor woman if he knows what's good for him. He's done enough to her and she doesn't need to suffer any more." She snorted. "McDreamy my ass."

"Even so-"

The sound of Miranda's pager interrupted Richard. "That's me- 911 in the pit. I'll bring you the schedule after, Chief."

With that the short woman left his office to rush down to the ER, leaving him alone with his thoughts.

————————————————————————————————————————————

10 days later

Meredith had been back at work for a week and felt like she was going to collapse. Knowing that she still had 26 hours left on her shift, she stumbled into an on-call room, pleasantly surprised that it was empty. She threw herself on the bottom bunk, not bothering to lock the door or take off her shoes and fell asleep quickly, oblivious to the world. Meredith remained that way for the next 4 hours until her pager went off, waking her up abruptly. Feeling much better, she stretched and adjusted her scrubs before reaching for her pager. The message she saw brought a smile to her face, even if she had been woken up.  'Meet me in the NICU- Addison.'

She took off to the NICU at a brisk pace, waving to Alex who was leaving for the night and heading for the stairs. She figured that since  he would be back in less than 16 hours she should start avoiding them now. When she got up to maternity she saw Addison leaning over an incubator, checking a baby's heart and lungs and cooing at him. ' She would make a good mother ,' Meredith thought idly. After Addison had made a few notes in the baby's chart and was just staring at him, Meredith snuck in behind her and put her hands over her eyes.

Addison jumped, startled, she thought she felt a little electricity from her touch. "Jesus Meredith, are you trying to give me a heart attack!"

Meredith smirked and leaned against the counter. 

"Maybe. What did you page me for?"

She sighed and put the chart back. "As you know, your shift doesn't end until 2pm tomorrow and mine ends now, so since you're on my service I wanted to go over the patients before I left. Mrs Henderson in 319 is still under observation for her pre-eclampsia, if all goes well tonight I can release her tomorrow morning so I would like you to check on her once tonight. Baby Smart is, as you can see, doing well and he should be fine, I've asked a nurse to keep a close eye on him." 

she then pointed at the baby she had just been checking and then moved down a few incubators.

"The Barry twins are recovering well from their surgery this morning and I would like you to check on them every hour until 3am when Olivia is up here again. We had to drain Maria's lung and Stephen coded once but they are stable other than that. The nurse on duty has instructions to page you if you're needed. If anything happens and you get paged to the pit, page a nurse to supervise the twins. If they code or complications arise, page me immediately and I'll be in as soon as possible."

She turned away from the babies and looked at Meredith closely. "Did you sleep? You look a bit better now."

“Yeah, I was sleeping when you paged me, I got about 4 hours."

"Are you nervous?"

"About him being back? Definately. It's been too easy so far."

Addison hugged her tightly. "You'll be fine. Feel free to come and hide up here, it won't be that suspicious since other than tomorrow when you're with Dr. Burke you'll be with me."

"Alright. How do you think he'll react?"

"To us being friends? Not well, but he's a grown man. Just remember how much he hurt you when he tries to turn up the charm and you'll be fine. Now- you said that Stevens was taking your car when she gets off tonight, right?"

Meredith nodded.

"Okay, so I'll pick you up at 2 when your shift is done, I'm officially off tomorrow. We could go out for lunch if you'd like, or if you think you'll be too tired we can go to your place?"

"Well we'll see how I feel when I finish, I might get some sleep tonight. He's due around 10 tomorrow I think so I may just spend the last four hours of my shift up here if Dr. Burke finished with me early. Am I meeting you here or at your car?"

"I'll meet you up here." Gathering her stuff, she couldn’t help but give Meredith another hug, the desire for proximity with the intern was growing, even in the few minutes since she felt the jolt at Meredith’s touch at the beginning of the conversation.

"Be strong, alright? It will all work out." Impulsively she kissed her on the cheek before walking out of the NICU. "See you late Mer!"

Mer smiled and waved. "Ciao Addie!"

After Addison had left the room, she sank into the chair next to Maria's incubator. Seeing that the baby's bright blue eyes were opened, she slipped her finger inside and let her grab it. "Well aren't you a nice strong little girl!" she cooed. "With those pretty blue eyes and your dark curls your mommy is going to be beating the boys away from you!". Maria gurgled in response. "And you're smart too! Just remember that boys cab be bad for you Maria and if they are bad to you, let them go, you deserve better”. Grey sighed, “maybe you should just stay away from pink hair, alcohol and inappropriate men, and best friends with annoying moms or people who tell you to take the rest on faith and turn out to be married! Those, Maria, are always off limits." She nodded seriously at the baby, glad that no one else was in the room.

She stood up and took out her stethoscope. "Now Maria this is going to be a little bit cold, okay sweetie? Oh shh, don't cry, it will be over in a minute."

After recording Maria's lung progress in the chart she checked on Stephen and then went to catch Mrs Henderson before she fell asleep.

Seeing Mrs Henderson and her husband having a rather intense conversation, she knocked politely on the door before entering.

"Mrs Henderson? My name is Dr. Grey, I just need to do a quick ultrasound and check the fetal monitor."

Picking up her chart, Meredith read that Margaret Henderson was a 26-year-old primary school teacher and marathon runner who had a family history of pre-eclampsia and was in the 25th week of her pregnancy. She had been admitted that morning after suffering unusual fatigue, dizziness, cramping and some spotting.

Looking up from the chart Meredith saw that Mr. Henderson was scowling and walking towards the door. "Mr. Henderson? You can stay, I'm not going to be very long."

He shook his head. "No, I need to get back to the firm. Margaret will be fine."

Meredith just looked at him as he stormed out the door and then grabbed the cart with the ultrasound machine from the corner. "Okay, so if you could lift up your gown for me Mrs. Henderson… there, that's it. This is going to be a bit cold."

Mrs Henderson hissed when it came into contact with her skin. "You can call me Maggie, everyone does. Is the baby alright?"

Meredith had been using the wand to locate the baby. Flipping on the volume, a soft whooshing sound filled the room, signalling the baby's steady heartbeat. "Yes Maggie, everything looks fine. The heartbeat is nice and strong and I'm sure Dr. Montgomery told you how well the baby is developing so far. The only concerns so far are the pre-eclampsia and the baby's positioning, but the baby may still turn and if you take it easy you should be fine. That means no more marathons until this baby is officially in this world!"

Maggie nodded. "Yes, Dr. Montgomery explained that to me. That's what Greg and I were arguing about, he wants me to run my race next week but I told him not to be stupid. He doesn't really want the baby; he says it will take up too much of our time. He also thinks it's stupid for me to wait to find out but what does he know! I want to be surprised."

"He'll come around Maggie, a baby is a wonderful gift." Meredith said sympathetically. "Now I have to go check on a few other patients and then go find some food. I'll see you in the morning, hit the call button if you need anything!"

After checking on one other patient, Meredith made her way to the cafeteria to grab some fries and water. While she was sitting and eating, someone sat down across from her. "Dr. Grey. How are you?"

Meredith looked up from her food to see Mark Sloan. "Dr. Sloan. I'm still not going to sleep with you."

Mark pretended to look offended. "Meredith, you pain me! Maybe I just want to enjoy your lovely company."

She rolled her eyes. "Honestly Mark, just because we're the co-founders of the DMC doesn't mean you need to sit with me. Don't you have anything else to do?"

He shrugged. "Not really. Derek's not back here until tomorrow and even then he's still not speaking to me, Addison won't talk to me and the nurses have formed a coalition. It's just you and me babe. Us dirty mistresses have got to stick together!"

"Fine, whatever. If you touch my food, or even think about breaking the 3 dirty mistress club rules, I'll kick your ass."

After a few minutes of eating in silence Meredith spoke again. "You realize that by the shift change tomorrow morning it will be all across the surgical floor that we slept together, even though all we did was sit here and eat? I'll bet you twenty bucks that Derek punches you in the face again."

"Fine then Grey, but if I win then you owe me coffee." There was a pause in which he picked up a piece of food off his plate and offered it to Meredith. "Want my pickle?"

Meredith laughed and slapped him on the arm. 

“Mark! Breaking rules 1 & 2!”

He pouted. "Fine, just wanted to try. Are you heading back upstairs?"

She had gotten up and thrown out her garbage. "Yes, I was planning on heading to the coffee cart first."

"Mind if I come with?"

She just looked at him strangely. "Sure, why not? Since you're such a gentleman you can even buy me coffee."

Mark sighed. "Fine. What do you want?"

Meredith grinned. "Extra-large mocha latte with an extra espresso please!" She took extreme satisfaction to the sight of Mark fetching her coffee since he normally made interns get his. 'And the tables have been turned!'

Suddenly she heard laughter behind her. "Well Meredith, I never thought I would see that!"

She turned around to face a grinning Callie Torres. "I know! How are things with you and George? Are you liking the new apartment?"

Callie and George had gotten an apartment together after Meredith and Addison had pointed out how silly it was for them to live apart or in a hotel since they were, after all, married. They had found a place across from the hospital and had just finished redecorating. In the process, Meredith and Callie had gotten past their issues and were now good friends.

Callie grinned. "It's fantastic, Meredith! George seems to be trying more now, which is so good. I really want this marriage to work, you know? I think it's easier now that we're living together and he's not around Izzie as much since she doesn't like me. Speaking of her, did you know that her and Karev got a lease on an apartment about a block away from us? I heard her telling George this morning, she said she was moving all her stuff today since she's not in until 5pm."

"What?" gasped Meredith. "Are you kidding me? She hasn't told me at all, and I'm basically her landlady! Not to mention, what the hell am I going to do with that house all to myself? I can afford it, that's not the problem but it's huge!"

She shrugged. "I don't know, Meredith, but I'm sure you can figure something out. At least now you can redecorate it if you wanted to. Oh- here comes Mark with your coffee."

Sure enough, there was Mark with not two, but three cups of coffee. "Meredith, Callie." He handed one to both of them, looking pleased with himself. 

"There you go ladies… Callie I saw you talking with Meredith while I was in line so I got you your usual."

"How do you know mine, Mark?"

Mark laughed. "Steve, the coffee cart guy knows you two pretty well. I pointed to where you two were standing and he goes 'A mocha for Grey, extra shot and a double-double for Torres?' and I just nodded since that sounded about right."

Both girls smiled at him. "Well thanks Mark!"

"Well I'm off to the NICU again," Meredith said looking at her watch. "Callie, are you headed up to the surgical floor?"

"Yeah, I have emergency surgery in an hour, I have to make sure George knows what he's doing for pre-op. I would have asked for you but he was on call and you were in the middle of a shift owned by Addison."

They waved to Mark and headed over to the stairs, Callie knowing why Meredith was avoiding the elevators without her saying anything.

By the time 5 am came around, Callie had scrubbed out of surgery and Meredith had just come up from the basement where she had spent the last two hours asleep. They crossed paths on their way to the locker room from the coffee cart.

"Callie."

“Meredith."

"How did your surgery go?"

"It went well, a few complications but Mr. Johnson will definitely walk again. How are the little angels up in the NICU?"

Meredith laughed. "All of them are good, none were very fussy last night and no one coded. Is your shift done now?"

Callie yawned and nodded. "Yeah, I'm not in again until tonight. When are you off?"

Callie had followed Meredith into the intern locker room to wait for George.

"2pm. It won't come fast enough. Maybe his flight will be delayed and he won't be here until 3 so I'll be out of here." She finished putting her hair up just as George came in.

"Morning George."

George smiled at Meredith and kissed Callie on the cheek. "Morning Mer, Callie. Ready for rounds Mer?"

"Oh you bet I am," she said sarcastically.

"You'll be fine."

Callie kissed George quickly. "Anyway George, I'm off. I'll see you when I come in, you'll be done by then right?"

"Yes. Have a good day!"

He watched Callie leave the room before plopping down on a bench across from Meredith. "I am so exhausted."

Meredith snorted. "Seriously? God George, I'm on hour 39 of my 48-hour shift. I could just curl up and die right now. At least you had an exciting surgery."

George knew better than to argue with a tired Meredith so he just nodded. Needless to say he felt extremely grateful when her phone rang.

"Hello?"

"Morning Meredith, how are you?"

Meredith smiled through her yawn. "Addison! I'm good, a bit tired. How are you?"

"Good… I'm going to sleep again after this but I wanted to catch you before rounds. How long do you have?"

"Rounds start in 40 so I'm good for a while. What's up?"

"How did everything go last night?"

Meredith rolled her eyes. "Everything went fine Addie, if there had been a problem that I couldn't deal with I would have called you or paged you. It went well, everything was quiet."

"How's Mrs Henderson?"

"She's also doing well, the fetal heart beat was strong both last night and 20 minutes ago when I checked on her. Her cramping has finally stopped so you should be able to discharge her today."

"Good, good. How are you?"

"Honestly I'm trying to keep busy. I'm with Dr. Burke this morning and I just checked the board so I'll be in surgery from 7 until 9 and again from 10 to 1. Hopefully McAss will leave me alone."

"Okay. I'm coming in around 1 to check on my patients, so I'll page you when I'm done with them so we can go, okay?"

"Alright Addie, that sounds good. I'll see you later."

"Bye Mer."

"Bye."

She hung up and put her phone on her belt next to her pager, making sure the volume was up on her pager but only on vibrate for her phone. Looking at George, who had fallen asleep on the bench, she stood up and slapped his arm. "Hey, George. Get up! Let's go, we can wait for Bailey outside."

Pulling George up they went and found Dr. Bailey at the nurse's station filling out a chart.

"Morning Dr. Bailey!" Meredith said smiling.

Dr. Bailey looked at the clock, then the two interns in front of her. "Grey, O'Malley. You're half an hour early for rounds and Grey, you're happy. What's going on?"

"Nothing Dr. Bailey, just excited for my shift to end and I already had coffee. George was on-call and in surgery last night and I was in the NICU keeping an eye on the twins Dr. Montgomery operated on yesterday. Babies make me happy."

"The fact remains Grey, that no one who has been on for 40 hours is ever this happy. O'Malley, rise and shine. Where are Yang and Karev?"

George yawned. "Don't know, Dr. Bailey. They aren't here yet."

"Hmpf. Something fishy is going on here today… you two out here before Yang? Now, don't you do anything stupid today, you hear? If I hear one word about any funny business from the pair of you…" she trailed off, looking at them menacingly.

They both nodded obediently and there was silence for the next 20 minutes while Dr. Bailey finished her charts.

"Right. You two were extra early and since it is now… 5:50, I'll tell you two what you're doing today. Grey, you already know that you're with Dr. Burke this morning. O'Malley, you can be with Sloan on his facial reconstruction, if you get him a coffee you might even get to assist. The other two will get what they get."

George looked at Dr. Bailey. "Um… Dr. Bailey?"

She sighed. "Yes O'Malley?"

"Can I go and get that coffee now?"

Rolling her eyes she replied "Run, O'Malley!"

George took off, returning seconds before 6am yet beating Alex and Cristina who stumbled out of the locker room at 6:00 and 6:01 respectively.

"Let's go Karev, Yang! You're late!"

They both grumbled but followed Dr. Bailey into the first patient's room where George took the chart from Dr. Bailey and then silently handed Dr. Sloan his coffee, earning a nod of approval from him.

"Dr. O'Malley, I like your style."

Dr. Bailey rolled her eyes. "O'Malley, present."

George cleared his throat. "This is Meaghan Waters, 37, admitted yesterday for facial reconstruction following a car accident. Dr. Sloan has OR 2 booked for the procedure at 7am."

After Dr. Sloan had asked George a few questions, Dr. Bailey nodded. "Good, like I said before you can scrub in."

Moving on to the next room, Dr. Bailey turned to Meredith. "Grey, present."

Cristina scowled, having wanted on Burke's service today.

"John Foster, 45, admitted last night following a collapse on the job site. He was found to be have excessive blockage in his arteries and Dr. Burke will be performing a triple by-pass at 9am."

"Good, Grey, you already know that you're with Dr. Burke today."

After rounding on two more patients they came to their last one. "Hm… Karev, go."

Alex smiled. "This is Ann-Marie Hutchings, in to have an aneurysm clipped at 11 am when Dr. Shepherd returns."

Herding her interns out into the hallway, Dr. Bailey turned and addressed them, handing them the appropriate charts. "O'Malley with Sloan, Grey with Burke. Go." As the two of them left she returned to the remaining two. "Karev, you're on clinic duty with me until Shepherd gets here for surgery and Yang, you're in the pit."

"But Dr. Bailey-" Cristina was cut off.

"Don't but me, Yang. If you had wanted a surgery then you would have been here early like Grey and O'Malley were or on time. Now get going, your patients are waiting!"

With that, Cristina went down to the pit and Dr. Bailey followed Karev to the clinic, leaving the nurses to gossip about why Dr. Grey had been seen eating with Dr. Sloan last night and looking so happy that morning when she had showed up early for rounds.

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Meanwhile... 

' _ It's a lovely day in Seattle, _ _'_ thought Derek Shepherd as he walked into Seattle Grace for the first time in a week. ' _ Sunny, temperatures in the high 70s, no rain until tomorrow… yes, a lovely day it is.' _

His happy mood lasted all the way up to the surgical floor and, thankfully for Mark and Meredith, all the way into the afternoon. In the elevator many people had quietly greeted him and as he got off he strained to hear the conversation going on between the two nurses in front of him.

"Did you see them last night? They were laughing and eating together."

"Yeah I did, and did you see her this morning? If that wasn't an 'I just got laid' smile then I don't know what it was."

"Didn't take her long to move on from McDreamy to the next person though did it? I mean he was only gone for a week, I wouldn't be surprised if she had made the phone call as soon as his flight left!"

Derek's curiosity had definitely been peaked but unfortunately the nurses weren't using any names and they had walked away before he had a chance to ask. Approaching the surgical board he looked and saw that at the moment he only had one surgery and he was going to be observed by Karev. Looking over the board, he searched for the name of the person he was looking for. ' _ Damn _ ,' he thought, ' _ she has back to back surgeries with Burke and she'll be gone before my surgery finishes. ' _

Seeing that it was 10:30, he headed over to the nurses station to page Karev. This time he listened to the gossip, searching specifically for names. At the same time, Drs. Burke, Sloan, Grey and O'Malley were leaving the ORs together after their patients had coded (Burke and Grey) or the surgery had finished (Sloan and O'Malley). As luck would have it, the moment Derek heard the names of the people the nurses were talking about, he saw Meredith and Mark walking together and looking quite happy. He saw red and did the only rational thing his brain could come up with- he flew at Mark, sending Meredith flying in the process.

"Are you fucking kidding me Sloan? You just had to take her too, didn't you?" he growled, still punching him. Mark landed a punch square on the jaw. 

"Meredith and I are just friends, what the hell?”

Derek's only response was another punch that was returned in kind by Mark. The boys and a screaming Meredith had drawn quite a crowd and Richard Webber and Miranda Bailey could be seen flying down the hallway towards them.

"Derek, Mark, stop it! Stop! We didn't do anything Derek, leave him alone!" Meredith screamed, trying to separate them and getting hit again from being in the way.

Derek struggled to stand and rounded on her instead. "And you! How am I supposed to believe a filthy whore like you? You probably jumped in bed with him the second I left, or were you with him before?"

The crowd went silent and the only sound that could be heard was a resounding 'smack' that echoed. When Meredith stepped back, there was an angry red hand print on Derek's cheek.

Shaking like a leaf, her tone was icy when she spoke. "First of all, jackass, I broke up with you and since you couldn't deal with it, you left. Secondly, Mark and I have never done anything and all we did was have dinner before I went back to work. Thirdly- we've gone over this before, you don't get to call me a whore, when I met you I was done, Addison showed up and I made a string of bad choices but it wasn't completely my fault! I am not your property, I owe you nothing and you will stay away from me on a non-professional basis, do you understand?”. She shouted, before turning to Mark “come on Mark, let's get you cleaned up." Helping Mark to his feet, she nodded to Drs. Bailey and Webber as she walked past them and led Mark to an exam room.

"I believe you owe me twenty bucks."

He laughed. "Fine, you were right. Pass me a mirror and a suture kit please? You know 

the drill."

Meredith rolled her eyes, grabbed the kit and tossed it to him before finding a mirror and holding it where he could see his facial laceration. "That good?"

“Perfect."

There was silence while he stitched up his face. When he finished, he turned to Meredith and motioned for her to sit on the exam table.

"Mark, I'm fine."

"Kiddo, your fine and my fine have very different meanings. Dirty Mistresses take care of each other and that is one hell of a nasty cut. So sit your ass down so I can stitch you up nicely. Would you rather have me, the amazing plastic surgeon, do it or some moronic intern?"

She sighed in defeat and hopped onto the table, scowling at him as he smiled smugly.

"That's what I thought."

After he stitched her up, he checked to make sure she didn't have a concussion because she had hit the both the wall and the floor when Derek had flown at him. "Can you follow the light for me Meredith? Thanks, that's good."

She glared at him as he took off his gloves. "No concussion, you're all good to go back with Dr. Burke-" He was cut off by the sound of her pager going off. She sighed and got up warily. "It's mine- 911 Chief's office. Wish me luck!"

While Mark and Meredith had been stitching each other up, Derek had been in the chief's office.

"Never, in all my years at this hospital, have I seen such disgraceful behaviour from an attending- aside from the  last time you punched Dr. Sloan! In front of patients Dr. Shepherd, honestly! What do you think they think when they see one of their doctors attack a colleague, hurting a bystander in the process? Do you think they liked the little show you put on? You are lucky that Drs. Sloan and Grey are not seriously injured." Dr. Webber was pacing angrily behind his desk, glowering at Derek who was sitting in front of it. Dr. Bailey was standing by the door, arms crossed, looking at Derek with absolute disgust, eyes boring into him with distain. Derek shifted uncomfortably in his seat at the mention of Meredith's name, knowing full well that he had stepped way out of line. ' _ So much for trying to win her back today _ ,' he thought miserably. Then what the chief had said registered in his brain.

“What do you mean, I'm lucky that Meredith wasn't seriously injured? She didn't get hit, Mark did."

Dr. Bailey snorted and Derek turned to look at her.

"I don't know what you were thinking when you saw Drs. Sloan and Grey leaving the OR wing, but when you attacked Dr. Sloan you threw Dr. Grey out of the way and she hit the wall. People heard the impact, Shepherd. On top of that, your fist connected with her face when she tried to pull the pair of you buffoons apart."

Derek paled. " Is she- is she okay? _I didn't mean to hurt her." 'Just Mark,_ _ '... _

"From what I heard, she needed some stitching and she's a little bit bruised, but other than that she's fine. You did intend to hurt her Shepherd, right from when you believed she had relations with Sloan and called her a whore."

"I-" Derek spluttered but Dr. Bailey raised a hand to cut him off.

"Don't you interrupt me while I'm talking. I've been that girl's resident since day 1, and let me tell you she has given me a fair share of headaches and more than enough near-death experiences. I have also seen her at her worst,  by your hands , and in the last few days at her best. You may think you love her, Dr. Shepherd, but when your wife showed up, you lost all rights to Dr. Grey. Addison, the chief and myself all asked you to leave her alone. Dr. Grey explicitly told you to let her be. If I'm not mistaken, only recently Yang threatened to castrate you with a rusty scalpel-" the chief and Derek winced at this comment.

"My point is, Shepherd, you've given that girl enough trouble. Leave her alone and refrain from violence in this hospital because I swear on all that is holy Shepherd, I don't care that you outrank me, I will kick your ass."

Richard cleared his throat, breaking the staring contest between the pair. "On top of what Dr. Bailey has so graciously told you for me, I would like to remind you that your personal business cannot get in the way of the well-being of the hospital and its patients. What you did today was inexcusable and you are not to apologize to Drs. Sloan and Grey for your actions. This behaviour will not be tolerated anymore Dr. Shepherd.”

Richard’s expression softened, “on a more personal basis- Derek, I have known you since you were a resident, yet I still cannot see how you turned into the person who sits before me. Meredith is like a daughter to me and if I find out you have caused her any more grief you  will regret the day you moved to Seattle. Understood?"

Derek nodded under the double glare he was receiving. "Understood, chief."

“Good. Now get out of my office."

He got up and left slowly, seeing Meredith waiting in Patricia's office on his way out. 

“Meredith…"

She looked up and spoke in a tone just as icy as the first. 

“That's Dr. Grey to you, Dr. Shepherd. Excuse me."

With that she brushed past him into the chief's office, leaving him reeling at the sight of her beautiful face once again swollen and scratched- but this time at his own doing.


	5. corner of your heart

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! here’s chapter 5, sorry for the delay, I will probably be updating on the weekend...

Meredith entered the chief's office, shut the door behind her and waited hesitantly by the door.

"You paged, Chief?"

Richard had been staring at Meredith's face and it took him a second to respond.

"Hm? Oh, yes. We need to discuss what just happened." With that, he and Dr. Bailey went back to staring at Meredith's face.

Meredith shifted uncomfortably in the doorway for another few minutes before she spoke. "Um no offense Chief, Dr. Bailey, but can you please stop staring at my face and can I please sit down? I'm feeling a little sore from my meeting with the wall."

"Of course!" Richard came around the desk and practically carried her into a chair. Once everyone was seated, Richard cleared his throat.

"Dr. Grey, can you please tell us how this started, going back to last night?"

"Well…" Meredith took a deep breath. "I was in the cafeteria last night eating dinner when Dr. Sloan sat down at my table and started talking to me. We ate, he offered to buy me coffee from the cart when I said I had to go monitor the babies, Callie joined us and he got her coffee too. He went… somewhere, and Callie and I went up to the surgical floor before I went to the NICU. I was in the NICU until about 3am when a nurse relieved me and I took a few hours to sleep. Then I went to rounds early and I didn't see Dr. Sloan again until then. When Dr. Shepherd saw us, Dr. Burke and I had just left our OR after our second patient of the morning died on the table and Dr. Sloan and Dr. O'Malley had just finished up their surgery. The next thing I knew, I was colliding with the wall and Dr. Shepherd was on top of Dr. Sloan. When you came up, I had just been hit after trying to separate them."

She winced and touched her face. "You heard what Dr. Shepherd and I said to each other. Dr. Sloan and I then went to an exam room- I held a mirror while he stitched his own face and then he stitched mine up and checked to make sure I didn't have a concussion or any new tender spots on my ribs and back. He had just cleared me to leave and go back with Dr. Burke when you paged. Oh- and don't worry Chief, his hands are fine."

Richard sighed in relief that not only was his best plastic surgeon able to operate, but that the girl he had come to think of as a niece / daughter figure was fine too.

"Thank you Dr. Grey, we are very glad that you only suffered a minor injury in that fight and that you were innocent in the whole fiasco. Some things need to change in this hospital starting with the nurses' constant gossiping and ahem SOME peoples’ lack of anger management."

He stood up from his desk and motioned for Meredith to stand up as well. As soon as she did, he walked around and gave her a tight hug. "Meredith Harper, next time those two fools start fighting you stay out of their way, do you understand? You are not superwoman and while I have no doubt you can hold your own, being your mother's daughter, you just got better and I don't want you back in the hospital as a patient. I'm getting too old for this Merbear!"

Meredith hugged him back and blushed at the use of her old childhood nickname. "Yes Uncle Richard. I don't want to be a patient again either… you are way too overprotective!"Laughing, Richard stepped back and they both sat down again. Meredith had nearly forgotten that Dr. Bailey was there until she spoke.

“Grey, what did I tell you and O'Malley this morning?"

"No funny business… oh. Sorry Dr. Bailey."

Dr. Bailey sighed. "I'll let it slide this time Grey… but really, you're starting to have a thing for heroics."

Meredith flushed and stared at Dr. Bailey, mouth open. "Excuse me, I do not Dr. Bailey!" She looked at Richard for support.

"I'm going to have to agree with her there Meredith."

"What… Uncle Richard, no!"

"Oh, yes Grey. There was you putting your hand on the bomb when the paramedic freaked out, trying to save a patient and getting knocked into Puget Sound instead and now you trying to get between Sloan and Shepherd. While I don't think I ever thanked you for the bomb incident since your quick thinking saved my husband's life and the bomb from going off over the main oxygen line, it really was unnecessary for you to almost get yourself killed like that. Are you done pulling stunts like that? I'm sure that there are more than a few people that would appreciate it if you did."

Meredith shrugged. "I don't know Dr. Bailey, I mean I'll try, but these things just seem to happen to me. You're welcome, by the way. Oh, how is little Tuck doing?"

"Very well, he's sitting up on his own and everything!"

Meredith smiled at the enthusiasm in her superior's voice when she spoke about her son and couldn't help but wonder if her mother ever spoke about her like that. She was pulled out of her thoughts by the shrill sound of Dr. Bailey's pager and her subsequent exit after letting Meredith know she could go home since there were only 3 hours left on her shift and that Cristina would cover her duties.

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

** Meanwhile... **

Strming through the main doors of the hospital, into the foyer was Addison Forbes Montgomery, to say she was seething with rage would be an understatement. THinking to herself  _‘When I see that brainless ex-husband of hers, it’s not just a slap that he’s going to get… no, he deserves one of my very expensive Gucci heels to the face_ _!’_ Addison was not one for voilence but she was overwhelmed with rage - the nerve of him to hit Meredith, even if it was an accident, and then call her a whore?! Inexcuseable.

‘When Dumb and Dumber’, as Addison had taken to calling them, had started fighting, Callie had just been called back to the hospital with complications on the guy she had operated on the night before. She was at the nurses' station looking for his chart when Derek had attacked Mark and by proxy, Meredith. Callie had stayed to watch the rest of the altercation (she couldn't help but cheer for Meredith) and texted Addison immediately after to let her know what had happened. She knew that Addison was going to be Meredith's ride home and she had a feeling that Dr. Webber wouldn't be letting Meredith finish her shift.

Addison did all she could to compose herself before checking on and discharging any patients that were ready to leave before making her way to Richard's office. Knocking on the door she waited to hear "Come in!" before entering. Upon entrance she saw Meredith and Richard talking quietly. After greeting Richard she turned to Meredith and took in the cuts on her face.

Sweeping Meredith up into a tight hug similar to the one Richard had recently given her, she exclaimed, 

"Honestly woman, can we not leave you alone for a few hours? I was so worried when Callie called and told me what happened! Are you alright?"

Meredith hugged her back and gasped "Addie… you have to let me go, I can't breathe!"

Addison blushed and reluctantly released her. "Well, are you?"

"I'm fine, Addie, just a few cuts and bruises."

Addison looked to Richard for confirmation, knowing how Meredith liked to downplay her injuries. She relaxed only after Richard offered her an amused nod.

"Oh thank goodness!"

"I have to agree with you there Addison, Meredith had me quite worried and I believe that Dr. Karev almost punched Dr. Shepherd himself. I know you Addison, and I know that you're going to want revenge on Derek, but all I ask is that you get your revenge outside of this hospital. Okay?"

"Alright, fine. I can live with that."

"Good. Now, Miranda and I told Meredith that she was free to go and she was just about to call you when you arrived. Have a nice day off tomorrow Meredith and Addison I'll see you tomorrow afternoon."

The two women said goodbye to Richard before leaving his office and heading towards the intern locker rooms. Unsurprisingly, Addison's presence stopped people from making comments to her about the recent fight. After Meredith changed out of her scrubs and grabbed her bag, they went towards the elevators. Meredith figured they were safe enough since she knew Derek was in surgery. When she went to push the button for maternity she was surprised that Addison shook her head and instead pushed the button for the lobby.

"I went up there and checked on everyone before I went to see the Chief," explained Addison in response to Meredith's question, spoken by the look in her eyes.

"Oh."

Once they got in Addison's car, Addison turned to look at Meredith. "Do you want to go home and sleep or grab a bite to eat like we had planned?"

Just then Meredith's stomach growled, making her laugh. "Well, there's your answer!"

They decided to try the new Italian place that had opened up a block away from  Meredith's house and since lunch wasn't their busiest time they were seated quickly. About halfway through their meal, Meredith broke the silence.

"Mm… Addie this cheese cappelletti is delicious, you have to try some." Meredith held out her fork and after a pleading look Addison tried some.

"You're right, this is delicious. I'd offer you some of mine but I'm sure you've had spaghetti before."

Meredith giggled. "Yes, I have. Last night I found out from Callie that Izzie and Alex got an apartment near the hospital so she's moving out. Callie thought I already knew. I'm thinking of doing something with the house but I don't know what to do."- Meredith’s skills at design and decor were only a tiny bit better than her ability to cook.

Addison's face lit up like a child's on Christmas morning. "You can redecorate the whole house Mer! You said you wanted to do something with the basement so you can have that finished and you can put in a storage room for your mom's old files. After you clean it out you could redo her office and use it yourself! Oh and we'll have to get you cooking lessons if you're going to live there alone."

"You sound just like me with your rambling! Actually, you're still staying at the Archfield, right?"

Addison nodded. "Yes, why?"

Meredith bit her lip. "Well it's such a huge house and you must be tired of the hotel… so I was wondering if you wanted to move in? I have two extra rooms and I'm considering offering one to my sister Lexie if she decides to apply for Seattle Grace. As long as you don't mind if she ends up moving in I don't see why you can't."

Addison nearly choked on her spaghetti. Lately she had thought of Meredith asking her to move in but Addison had never thought it would happen- even though it was only as friends she was still shocked.

"Are you okay Addie? You don't have to say yes," Meredith said, taking Addison's silence the wrong way. "I mean-"

Addison finished coughing and said quickly, "I'm fine, it just nearly went down mt trachea” at this point meredith smitked at the neonatal surgeon’s use of medical terminology. “Of course I'll move in! We're friends, friends do this kind of thing when their friends are staying in a hotel and they have room, right?" She smiled widely.

"Oh, okay! Whenever you want to move in is fine with me. If you choose a room today we can get whatever you want for it this afternoon and I can paint or whatever when I'm off tomorrow. I wanted to go to the store anyway, I need a new bed."

Addison crinkled her nose in thought (making Meredith think just how adorable it was). 

“Which one is bigger, the one Izzie had or the one Alex had?"

"Izzie's is the bigger one."

"Izzie's it is then."

After paying for their meals, the pair linked arms and walked out to Addison's car so that Meredith could go home and rest while Addison decided exactly what she wanted to do with her new room.

————————————————————————————————————————————

** Meanwhile in the hospital basement... **

3 interns were seated on the empty gurneys holding a conference about their mutual friend. Read: Izzie and Cristina were plotting and Alex was looking at his pager and praying for someone to page him stat.

"I don't get why she's pulling away from us, I didn't do anything!" exclaimed Izzie loudly. "Then I find Addison in our house on our couch sleeping with Mer and it all just went downhill from there. I mean sure, I like Addison well enough but she's encroaching on our territory! Don't even get me started on Callie… and Sloan? she’s really going after her superoirs" Izzie trailed off with a scowl on her face.

"I know! We had a small argument, sure, but now she's the Chief's favourite just because she almost drowned and Satan is always around. It makes me sick, the happiness that exudes from that woman. No wonder you two moved out!"

Izzie shifted uncomfortably. 

"Actually Cris, we moved out because we're dating and it's more convenient for us to live right by the hospital, Meredith's is at least a 15 minute drive. The closer we are, the shorter a drive we have and the faster we can answer trauma pages."

"I like the way you think, Barbie." Cristina eyed Izzie speculatively. "Maybe I need to re-evaluate my opinion of you."

Alex jumped into the conversation. " It’s only been what, less than a week? to make it worse, you two bitch about losing their friend to Montgomery and Torres you sure aren't doing anything about it. You're just sitting here on your asses. Deal with whatever issues you have with Mer and let them go. She's dealing with a lot right now, and she'll talk to you when she's ready, Yang you should know more than anyone. Just because she has two new friends doesn't mean she's going to forget us."

Izzie and Cristina stared at Alex incredulously. "That was a disgustingly deep and feminine piece of advice Evil Spawn, are you sure you don't have a vagina?"

Alex shook his head, vowing to remember the look of disgust and awe on Yang's face forever. "No, but when I was hanging out with Mer when she was off we watched a lot of Dr. Phil and Oprah. You would be surprised how little there is on during the day." Alex shuddered in remembrance. He was saved from further questioning by his pager going off, leaving Izzie and Cristina to stare at his retreating back.

"Think we should do what he said?"

"As much as it pains me to admit it, but probably" said Cristina with a distinctly nauseous look.

Their pagers sounded in tandem.

"Now that this has been sufficiently awkward… see you later Cris!"

"Bye Barbie!" They both raced towards their respective assignments, with Cristina praying that she had a nice bloody trauma to deal with. Others may think it was morbid and disgusting, but hey, she was Cristina Yang. Who were they to judge, heck who was Christina to care about others’ opinions?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed, I do have a vague outline for how this story is going to go but it may mean timeline is going to be slightly skewed. Feedback is always appreciated. Appologies again for the delay, I’ve been super busy with college.


	6. Decor and Dresses

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What happens in the weeks after...?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! Sorry it’s been a while, I had a bit of writers block as well as the fact that I’ve been super stressed with school, applying to university as well as one of my mental health conditions causing me a lot of stress due to some problems getting my meds.  
> ANYWAYS, this is sort of a bridging chapter as I have quite a few ideas but I’d been struggling to find a way to lead onto said ideas, but this will hopefully do the trick.   
> I hope you enjoy, as always, feel free to leave suggestions and comments!

Three weeks passed by fast, Meredith and Addison had renovations underway, including an upstairs extension for a 5th ensuite bedroom and an additional bathroom. To the intern’s distain, they had decided to go “all out” and paint all the rooms as well as refurbish because, in the words of Addie “why the hell not”. Due to the nature of some of the works on the house, Meredith ended up staying at Addison’s suite at the Archfield for a few nights. 

The two women had become accustomed to waking up alongside eachother, not that either of them would admit to eachother, or even themselves the flutter they felt in their chest, or the way their stomachs somersaulted when realising they had become entangled in their sleep, limbs and locks of hair intertwined.

Mer had decided to take the “high road” and in an attempt to keep the peace, said that Izzie and George were still welcome to live at hers (after all, they were her only family). The two had been unusually busy within their own little bubble, Mer didn’t really notice the way they were flirting even though George had just gotten married- it wasn’t that Meredith didn’t care for them, she was just so preoccupied with work and her own internal ‘what am I feeling’ type of crisis not to mention intern exams and a slight predicament about the speciality in which she had recently found she thrived in...

During this time, Christina had been meaning to find Meredith to have a talk, unfortunately, she was on Derek’s service and the neurosurgeon was working her unnecessarily hard, even for an intern. On top of that she had the stress of planning a wedding, the wedding wasn’t what was stressful, rather her own mother and soon to be mother-in-law. Having just walked out of Seattle Grace Hospital, after her final day of working 18 hour shifts on 5 consecutive days (yes, she only had 6 hours of rest between shifts, Dr Derek Shepherd was really pushing the intern, it was unbelievable how he’d gotten away with it). Everyone who worked with Yang knew she was a robot but damn was she, the unstoppable Dr Christina Yang, M.D and P.H.D, stressed and overwhelmed, not to mention underprepared for her upcoming exam (not that she would dare say that to anyone) and It was 3 PM, ‘ _damn,20 minutes till that freaking dress fitting_ ’ she was exhausted but knew she would not be able to rest during her 4 days off until she had patched things up with her person. Being the opportunistic woman that she is, without hesitation she got out her phone to send a text:

**CY:** Mer, get your ass to IDINA Bridal now, I know we haven’t talked much recently, I’m not going to get all sappy but you are my Maid of Honour and we need a catchup or whatever”

**MG** : Ok um sure, be there in 15 :)

**CY:** Oh bring a bottle of liquor, make it tequila will ya? ;)

**MG:** Who do you think I am? Of course I’ll get the goods

Smirking to herself Christina walked to her car and drove to the dreaded bridal shop, though a little less reluctantly now, knowing it’ll be less of a blow with the help of Mer and of course- Tequila.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know, I know it was super short, although this chapter was actually my first one entirely of my own work, without any input from the original fanfic. Sorry again for the delay.  
> Also some questions about characters in this work.  
> Amelia - see her now, later or not at all?  
> Izzie- do we stan?  
> Derek- how toxic is he?


End file.
